a 'short' story
by linh cinder
Summary: Okay, here was the thing—Leo knew that he was short. But, despite it all, it didn't stop people's jokes from rubbing him the wrong way every once in a while.


**notes:** how tf did i write this? tf? how is this my first fic of 2017? how

(for an anon on tumblr)

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a "short" story

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Okay, here was the thing—Leo _knew_ that he was short. He was totally, one hundred percent aware of it. He made it the center of half of his jokes, supported people calling him "Little Leo", and even dressed up like an elf every Christmas. Really, in all honesty, he was absolutely _fine_ with it. But, despite it all, it didn't stop people's jokes from rubbing him the wrong way every once in a while.

It didn't help that he was dating a fucking mountain, either. Jason was _six foot_ freaking _one_ for the gods' sakes. Leo couldn't escape the constant jokes no matter how hard he tried.

Want an example? He was in the Bunker with an audience, recalling a life-or-death experience for a couple of good-natured laughs. "So then I was like, the fuck is the Bacchanalian Jingle, you know? I thought we were gonna die. So then I got to thinking, I can't sing, and I had just finished an episode of Psych, like, a good hour before, so I was like— uh— "

Something was very wrong, Leo noticed. For one thing, Travis and Connor had these looks on their faces that read " _What the hell is going on?"._ For another, Nyssa looked overly amused over their shoulders. It was after seeing her that he realized the obvious—that there was a pair of tan arms wrapped around his torso, and that he was a good foot and a half off of the ground. It could only mean one of two things: either Percy was trying to dump him in the lake again, or Jason was finally back from sword practice.

"Hey," Jason giggled into the back of his neck, and it was all hot breath and smiles and it made Leo blush. Jason gently set him down on his feet on the messy Bunker floor while Nyssa sported one hell of a smirk. The Stoll brothers started looking around the room as if they were intruding on something, which Leo's mind happily replied with _they are now._

"Sup," Leo chirped back as he turned to face his boyfriend, prompting him to lean down so he could peck him on the cheek. "Hey, I was just in the middle of telling them about the time we fought the Maenads—"

"You know what?" Nyssa interrupted with that same smirk still on her face. "I think I'm more interested in hearing how the weather was up there."

He rolled his eyes as Travis and Connor snickered. "Ha, ha, very funny."

Leo jumped when he felt the soft pressure of a hand on the small of his back.

"You wanna go somewhere?" asked Jason lowly, a small smile gracing his lips.

"Yeah, sure." Leo grumbled, letting Jason lead him out of the entrance of Bunker 9. It was their loss, anyway—the Maenad story was a _pretty_ good one.

* * *

The next person to make a snide comment about Jason and Leo's height difference was Piper, naturally. As much as Leo loved her, he hated her guts more than anyone, as any honorary sibling should. The two of them were gonna fight it out to the death someday. He had yet to choose a date and a time.

The three of them were hanging out on the stretch of beach that ran along the coast of the Sound, on a warm sunny day when most of the cabins came out to play and enjoy the dull crashing of the waves. Most of the campers were still in their t-shirts—they had just finished classes, after all—but Leo had traded his jeans and and camp shirt for a pair of swim trunks he'd bargained from the Stoll brothers. It was a buy-one-get-one-free deal. Leo didn't see the need for both pairs, so naturally he gave one to Jason. They were kinda small and made his ass look big. Leo saw it as a win-win situation.

Jason didn't swim much, so Leo stayed on the surf with him, but they had a great view of Percy and Piper shredding up the son of Poseidon-induced waves that banked the shore. Leo didn't know where they'd gotten the surfboards from, but he could bet money that the Stolls had something to do with it.

It was getting hotter by the minute, and while it didn't bother him as much, he was sure that watching Percy repeatedly fall into the cool water wasn't really helping Jason's case. His chest was glistening, and the sunscreen Leo had rubbed all over him was thinning out with sweat.

"Jace, you sure you don't want to take a dip?" he offered, motioning past the frolicking demigods to the calm waves. He looked at the churning water, then gulped. "Unless, you know, you're still worried about Poseidon drowning you or something. Because if that's it, I totally understand."

"I guess I wouldn't mind a swim," Jason mused, stretching out his toned legs in the golden sun before pulling them close to his chest. He shot Leo a hopeful look, reaching for his hand. "Would you come with me?" He asked, then smirked. "I'd rather not drown alone."

Leo snorted, quickly bouncing to his feet before brushing the sand off of his legs. "Well, when you put it _that_ way…"

Jason laughed, grabbing his hand as he stood. "Come on!"

Leo was the first to plunge into the water. He pressed past the frothy, stubborn waves as Jason slowly made his way in behind him, laughing all the while—and before he knew it, the water was waist-up, right up to the band of his trident-printed swim trunks. He waited for Jason, blinking against the harsh light of the sun, and he caught up to Leo, wrapping his arms around his shoulders with a laugh as the waves pushed at Leo's back. Leo pressed up close against him and smiled into his collarbone. The water reached just a little above Jason's knees.

Jason leaned down and kissed him, sweet and soft. He tasted of salty ocean spray and the sweetness of laughter. Leo had just pulled back to press his forehead against his and burrow his head into his chest when Piper, speak of the devil, started shrieking at them out of nowhere, trying to get their attention as she waved her arms from her red and white surfboard.

"Hey! You two! Come over here you dumb nerds!"

Leo let out the loudest groan his body could muster while Jason just smiled happily, one arm loose around Leo waist. He raised his hand to cup his mouth before calling back, "Hey, Pipes! Be right over!"

Leo froze. _Wait._

Be right over? As in, he and Jason were going to the deep end of the beach? He glanced at the water that puddled around his waist, then back at the shore. They were maybe three feet in now, but the where the shallows ended, they'd be close to six feet in—and Leo wasn't that hot of a swimmer. His voice was almost shrill when he spoke up. "Um, Jay, how about we go back to the shore to put on some more sunscreen?"

"In a sec," Jason mumbled absently, pressing a chaste kiss to Leo's lips before taking his hand in his again. "Let's go over and see Piper and Percy first. I wanna push Percy off his surfboard."

Leo chuckled, but it didn't do much to calm his nerves. He gripped Jason's hand and took a couple of hesitant steps forward. "Well, okay. If you say so."

They pushed into the swirling water, every step down the slope of sand making Leo more nervous. As the water rose to his shoulders, it also rose to Jason's waist, and by the time Leo was neck deep and almost standing on his toes, Jason was in up to his shoulders, still smiling an oblivious smile as he waved over to Percy and Piper, who were a few feet away.

Jason started forward, and Leo panicked. There was no way in Hades he was gonna get over there.

"Jason! Psst. Get back here."

"Huh?" Jason turned to peer over his shoulder. It took him one, two, three moments to stare at Leo quizzically with his blond brows knit together before something clicked. Jason blue eyes went wide as his expression morphed into something close to _Oh! Yeah! He no swim!_

Jason quickly waded back to him, and Leo shivered when he felt his Jason's hands run along his waist beneath the water. "It's too deep; I forgot." he mumbled, expression apologetic as he pressed a kiss to Leo's forehead, making Leo's face heat up again. Jason squeezed his waist. "Want a piggyback ride?"

"Will you drop me?" Leo questioned as Jason turned his back to him.

"Probably not," Jason answered, and then, after a moment, "Well, _hopefully_ not."

Leo scrambled onto Jason's back, shivering at the cold wind as he latched his arms around his neck from behind and pressed the warmth of his chest to his skin. The waves battered his back, but he felt safer when Jason slid his strong hands around his thighs. Leo exhaled before pressing in closer, burying his face in Jason's neck. "I really, really, _really_ hope Poseidon's in a good mood today."

In a second, the two of them were off, moving sluggishly amidst the water. As they approached, Piper and Percy looked like they were in the middle of a heated debate, but they ceased their bickering when they saw the two of them and traded their scowls for smiles.

"Hey lovebirds, I haven't seen you all day!" called Piper from her board, her hair grasping at her cheeks as the wind tossed it to and fro. She followed up her greeting by ruffling both of their hair, rousing twin groans from both of their mouths. She turned her wolfish grin on Leo, eyes sparkling.

"Wow, Leo, you look different. Have you gotten taller?"

"Stoooop," he groaned, stuffing his face in the warmth of Jason's neck. His wet hair clung his forehead, and he reached up to brush it away. "I swear to the gods, If you called me all the way over here just for _that—"_

"Wait, wait," Piper beamed, turning to share a conspiring look with Percy before taking her hand and plunging it under the water. "I got a better one: all those boarding Jason Grace must be this tall to ride!"

"Hey!" Jason blurted, stumbling just enough to make Leo nervous. Leo felt the tips of his ears grow hot, and then scowled.

"McLean, if you don't stop making gross jokes right now I swear on the Styx I'll—"

"Come over here and get me?" she joked. "Could you even swim that far?"

Okay—that was it.

"Jason." Leo muttered lowly as Percy and Piper hopped off of their boards. "Put me down."

Jason craned his neck to peer over his shoulder, standing back to give them room. "But—"

Leo glared. "Do. It."

Jason frowned, then let Leo slide into the water.

Long story short, that end of the surf was hotter than a jacuzzi after that.

* * *

In the Big House, there's a weathered mark over the infirmary door where a piece of mistletoe used to be. Someone had taped it up there in the 90s or something, and then left it there for a looong time—years, in fact. The year-round mistletoe and the stories thereof was a kind of camp folklore up until Mr. D. has said that it was "juvenile" and that it reminded him too much of "Christmas, which makes him think of happiness, which makes him think of children, which he hates", so he took it down a while back. Despite all of this, the mark was still there—slightly paler than the wood of the door frame, but darker than the panels of the soft oak walls.

When the mark replaced the mistletoe, a new tradition wormed its way in, too: height contests.

The doorway was pretty high up, so if you could touch the mark without jumping, you were camp boss. Only a few select campers ever had the honor of holding this title. The greatest of the greats could get their hands up there: Annabeth, Percy, Nyssa, Clarisse, the entire Nike Cabin because they had no chill, and a few other kids. Leo would _love_ to say that he didn't care, but gods, he did. If he could just touch that stupid, _stupid_ doorpost, then the whole world would finally shut up about how short he was.

If only the damn thing wasn't _8 feet high._

"Harvey, stop squirming," demanded Will from one side of the cot, his expression sour as one of Leo's cabin mates—Harvey, the 8-year-old son of a gun—writhed in pain that was caused by an oopsy that had unfolded in the Bunker just a half hour before.

Harvey's face was contorted in pain, and Leo would have felt bad for the poor kid if he hadn't just nearly sliced his arm off. "I'm trying!"

Will held the pliers aloft, groaning as Harvey rolled over to one side. "Dude. It's just a _splinter._ Calm the Hades down."

"But it hurts…" he whined, his voice muffled in the pillow of the cot. Will looked up at Leo with an expression that said, " _Why the fuck did you bring me this mess",_ but Leo just sighed. Will glared, and right before Leo opened his mouth to say something, one of the off-duty Apollo medics began to shout, her voice a mixture of excitement and surprise.

"Guys! I just touched the mark! I'm like, a giant now!"

"Oh my God let me see!" shrieked one of her younger siblings, who rushed over to see the camper reach up again, and then— _tap._ Yep, she touched it. Some more Apollo kids gathered around, and she hit the doorpost a couple more times for good measure.

"Whoa, Jackie!"

"Awesome!"

"You must be, like, six feet tall now!"

"I wish I could do that!"

Leo's left eye twitched.

"I bet I could reach it if I jumped high enough!" said one kid, and sure enough, they jumped. Leo watched as their hand slapped against the mark, and then another kid followed, making him grin as the rest of the campers did the same.

Jump? He could _so_ do that. Sure, if he did it in front of Percy or Clarisse or literally anyone from Nike, they'd laugh, but now, if everybody else was doing it, then he wouldn't look bad. It'd be a piece of cake. He'd say he'd touched the stupid thing, get the cred, and then it'd all be done with. No more "Little Leo" jokes. No more elf costumes just to gain laughs around the Christmas tree.

"Step aside, kiddos, and let the _master_ show you how it's done," he proclaimed loudly, stepping away from a wailing Harvey's bedside to join the ranks of the group by the doorpost. The demigods shared a confused glance as he approached, but he paid them no mind.

Leo proceeded to stretch, giving the kids a show. The mark was right there, in all of its discolored glory, and he eyed it hungrily as he bent down to touch his toes. All he had to do was tap it with just the _slightest_ touch, and then he could brag about it for the next hundred years, or at least until a monster got him. And if Will wanted to ruin that by blabbing that he'd jumped, well. Leo was pretty sure he could jump high enough to hit him, too.

He dropped to a squat. The other demigods parted to the side and left him an open-aisle shot at victory, his jaw clenching at the thought of their praise.

"DO IT! DO IT!" chanted the kids all around him, shaking their fists.

Leo pushed off, then jumped.

His heart pounded as he sailed through the air. The tips of his fingers brushed the doorframe just so, making him grin wide like a dentist on Halloween—

—and then he yelped.

And missed the mark.

And collided with Annabeth, who happened to walk riiiight beneath the doorway just then, to Leo's unwavering luck.

To say that his landing was painful was an understatement. To say that the horrified look that flashed on Annabeth's face right before he landed on top of her was a prelude to even _worse_ pain was an understatement, too.

"What the— _ow!"_ she screeched as Leo let out an undignified squeak. He screwed his eyes shut as he slammed into Annabeth, sent both of them hitting the opposite wall, and then fell to the floor, his shoulder aching at the unplanned impact.

He groaned. From the pain or the embarrassment, he didn't know.

 _"Leo!"_ she cried angrily, and _boy_ , she didn't sound happy. He slowly pried one eye open to take in her expression. She was glaring at him big-time, blonde curls falling in her face as she glowered down at him. _"Di Immortales_ —you better have a good explanation for this, or you're going to be _really_ happy you're already at the infirmary!"

He winced at the venom in her words and rolled to one side. In the doorway, the other demigods gathered around, some snickering and some looking downright shocked. Most looked torn between faking sympathy or suffering Annabeth's wrath. Leo groaned again, struck by the reality of what an utter failure he was, and brought his stinging palms to his face, pressing them to his eyes. He parted his fingers to peer up at Annabeth, giving her the best kicked puppy look he could muster.

"Sorry," he croaked. Then, as an afterthought, "I probably should've jumped to the left, huh?"

She scoffed at him. "Hell _yeah_ you should've." Annabeth fixed him with a final withering look before she stood to her feet and brushed off her jeans. "Don't go jumping out of doorways again, Valdez. Especially when _I'm_ walking through them. It's a safety hazard."

"The you walking part or the jumping through doorways part?"

"Ugh, shut up." she answers, redfaced, and then walks through the infirmary door.

There was a call from Will from somewhere within the room, and the crowd scattered away, leaving with muted snickers and pointed fingers. Leo just stayed on the floor, resigned to his fate as his head lolled on the hard wood, eyes trained on the untouchable ceiling. _I fucking suck,_ he lamented, gazing sullenly at the creamy plywood above. He'd missed a post that was two fucking inches away from his hand, and had fallen flat on his face. _Monsters, take me now._

He didn't know how long he lied there, listening to the muted sounds of idle medical chat drift through the infirmary doorway, but it must've been long enough, because he heard footsteps approach from the stairwell at the end of the hall, and the next thing he knew, he was peering up at a pair of legs from upside down, cross-eyed.

Leo's eyes crept up the pair of baggy jeans to catch the sight of his boyfriend's face, all soft as he smiled down at him. He blushed.

"Need some help?" Jason asked, extending a hand.

Leo didn't say anything as he took the offer, letting Jason help him to his feet.

He wouldn't meet Jason's eyes when he turned to face him, not even when he felt the soft pressure of his hand on his elbow, sending warmth through his arm as Jason coaxed him closer. When Jason slipped his other arm around his waist, Leo lost his nerve, cushioning his bottom lip between his teeth as he looked up at him, eyes pleading, finally letting his brown eyes meet blue.

 _"Please_ don't ask me why I was on the floor," he blurted out.

"I won't ask you why you were on the floor," Jason promised.

"Right. Good. Because I totally wasn't having a crisis or anything. So."

"I'll take your word for it," Jason said lowly, leaning close to nuzzle his nose against Leo's, and _fuuuck._ He was doing that little smirk thing where he _knew_ that Leo wanted to say something, but refused to spill, which drove him CRAZY. Couple that with the way he started pressing kisses to Leo's jaw, and he was a goner. Leo lasted all of ten seconds before a whine crept into his throat, and he was spilling all of his business at Jason's feet.

"I _hate_ being short," he hissed, face heated, and Jason actually pulled back a little with a surprised look on his face. "All the jokes, and the taunts, and the teasing—it's driving me _fucking insane."_ he moans, burying his face in Jason's shoulder. "I know I make a lot of big talk about it all the time, and that I always just roll with it, but it's really getting to me. I just, I can't _do_ things that tall people can. I can't reach things, or fight as well, or lead as well, or—" he choked up. Shit, he'd struck a well, tapping into something a _lot_ deeper than he'd bargained for. But that's how he felt, sometimes—no matter how big of a role he had, he felt _small._ Insignificant. Like he could never be important, no matter how hard he tried.

The soothing sensation of fingers carding through his hair brought him out of his gloom, drawing his eyes to the soft, sweet look on Jason's face.

"Hey. Being short doesn't make you any less of an amazing boyfriend," Jason told him quietly, and even though Leo's first initial thought to that was _oh, so you DO think I'm short, jackass,_ he blushed red as a beat and buried his face in the fabric of Jason's camp shirt. "And it doesn't make you any less of an awesome fighter, either. You're one of the most talented, bravest people I know," Jason murmured, gazing at down at him with such genuine honesty that he couldn't look away. "You're _the_ bravest person I know. So don't sell yourself short—" Leo scowled, Jason grinned "—and don't tell yourself that you aren't good enough. You're important, Leo. I'll always look up to you," he finished with a crooked smile, sealing the promise with a chaste kiss.

Leo hummed as Jason pulled back, lips pursed as he took in the sight of his boyfriend. "But you _do_ think I'm short, though."

Jason rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Oh my gods, don't. You literally started with the phrase _'I hate being short'._ I'm just quoting you at this point."

 _"Oookay,_ but you could've said something nicer, like, _'There are tons of people shorter than you, Leo!'_ which would've been really fucking nice, you know? Because, while your speech was sweet and all, it's kind of null and void, considering the fact that I'm _still_ being cradled in the _freakishly long_ _arms_ of a fucking _six foot troll—"_

Leo was promptly cut off when Jason grabbed him by the waist and hoisted him up, making him shriek. It was not one of his best moments.

"I take it back," Jason chirped, grinning while Leo screamed, arms scrambling for purchase as he fisted his hands in the fabric of his shirt while his boyfriend tossed him over his shoulder. "You actually suck, sorry. I guess the speech _was_ moot, after all."

"Shut up!" screeched Leo as they passed beneath the doorway into the infirmary, earning a few turned heads and strange looks cast their way. "Put me down right now!" he demands, face heating to a point where he's pretty sure it might catch on fire.

When they pass under the doorway, he slams a hand on the mark on the frame, grinning from ear to ear as it makes contact with a satisfying smack.

If Jason later confessed to planning that during a heated make-out session later on, then, well. If anybody asks, Leo _definitely_ touched the mark, no help required. Nobody needs to know.

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 **notes:** sorry 4 the puns yall im not usually this unbearably corny

also pls pray 4 me i lost my phone and all of my snap streaks died and now i have to confront like 20 ppl about why i let this happen oh GOD

thats literally why i wrote this lmao. and also as an early bday gift to myself i think (it's march 28 ayy)

find me on tumblr astronai or keeith, bye


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